A Turkish prosecutor on Sunday called for close to a dozen individuals, including German human rights activist Peter Steudtner and Swedish citizen Ali Gharavi, to face up to 15 years in a Turkish prison.

They were charged with “helping an armed terrorist organization” and “becoming a member of an armed terrorist organization,” according to CNN Türk.

Steudtner and Gharavi were detained on July 5 after hosting a session on digital security and human rights in Büyükada, an island near Istanbul.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the arrest as “absolutely unjustified.”

“We declare our solidarity with him and all the others arrested … the German government will do all it can, on all levels, to secure his release,” she said at the time, according to Deutsche Welle.

Steudtner’s lawyers confirmed the indictment, but were unable to provide further details, German media reported.

The issue of foreign nationals held in Turkey has heightened tensions between Berlin and Ankara in recent weeks. The Turkish government considers Germany’s refusal to extradite Turkish nationals accused of involvement in last July’s attempted coup to be a major obstacle to repairing relations.

In an interview with German weekly Der Spiegel published Saturday, Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu insisted the justice ministry was independent of the wider government and said he had advocated for Steudtner’s case to be expedited.

Çavuşoğlu also called on Germany and Turkey to normalize relations, saying there was “no reason for problems.” His comments came after Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım last week said Turkey should open a “new chapter” with Berlin and “repair” relations.

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ac

Well, it seems that Turkish government just closely follows EU Commission advice on protecting law & order.

“It is a duty for any government to uphold the rule of law, and this sometimes requires the proportionate use of force,” European Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. “Respect for the rule of law is not optional; it’s fundamental.”

Posted on 10/8/17 | 4:53 PM CET

cinceur

@ac

You’re trying too hard, tone it down a bit.

Posted on 10/8/17 | 6:00 PM CET

ac

@cinceur
Well, those praising use of force against peaceful citizens or blatantly undermining rule of law should “tone down” in the first place, like:
– EU Commissars – turning blind eye or even praising Spanish government violence,
– Germany – where Bundestag Scientific Office has determined that Merkel’s decision to open borders to immigrants from all over the world had no legal grounds, where dieselgate and collusion among car producers has been tolerated for decades,
– France – with constantly extended ‘state of emergency’ depriving citizens of their basic rights which UN human rights experts and both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch condemned recently, with attacks on basic EU values or breaching 3% budget deficit rule against EU treaties for years.

Posted on 10/8/17 | 9:17 PM CET

François P

Russian troll probably

Posted on 10/9/17 | 12:20 AM CET

ac

@François P
I agree, @cinceur looks much like one of them.

As Putin is probably one of the happiest people when he sees violence used against peaceful citizens and rule of law undermined in the EU like Spain, France and Germany do and even praised by EU Commissars for that as nothing destroys united Europe more than that.
Moreover his trolls work hard to make it look ‘normal’ in the EU as who would be in a position to blame Russia for constant human rights abuses then ?!?

Posted on 10/9/17 | 10:40 AM CET

ayesha siddiqui

Germany shud invite Russia into NATO and induce a Vote to decide if turkey stays or goes, Russia is a bigger market, bigger army and most of all, Putin genuinely wants to amend ties with EU, but Erdogan is inciting turks living in EU to vote against anybody Erdogan wants